Shadow of the Eternals Is On Hold

Shadow of the Eternals, the spiritual successor to GameCube survival horror game Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, has been shelved by Precursor Games. The studio announced on Friday that they're taking a rest from the project following two failed Kickstarter campaigns.

"It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to put the Shadow of the Eternals project on hold," Precursor said on their forums. "We are very happy with what we have accomplished both as a group and with the community. The community has blown us away and was the one thing that kept us going through it all - we cannot thank you enough."

"Many of us will be taking a break. For those who are not aware, we all worked on this project as a labor of love and self financed 100% of everything for a over a year to try to make Shadow of the Eternals a reality. Although we did not succeed on doing this, we succeeded in making many friends and starting something that we hope provided value for those involved. We have no regrets."

Shadow of the Eternals, announced in May for the PC and Wii U, centers around detective Paul Becker as he investigates a battle between two cults. While Becker interrogates suspects, they'll tell him of the historical events that lead to the massacre. Players will relive these events, which take place over 2500 years in countries throughout the world.

The first Kickstarter campaign launched shortly after the announcement. However, its fundraising efforts were hindered by Precursor's ties to troubled company Silicon Knights as well as its high goal of $1.5 million. Precursor ultimately abandoned the campaign two weeks before its end.

The company then re-submitted the game to Kickstarter in July with a more modest goal of $750,000. They re-envisioned the game as a single 8-10 hour experience rather than an episodic series. The more realistic goal and the involvement of Metal Gear Solid voice actor David Hayter weren't enough to win over backers, though. The Kickstarter campaign only reached $323,000 - a substantial amount of money but well short of Precursor's goal.

Shadow's forums will stay online and the development team will hop on to chat from time to time. However, the project is on pause for the time being.

"Is the project dead? No, but we feel it needs a rest too. We have all agreed as a group that when and if the time is right we will get together and start it up again. Keep your head high everyone and remember what we have accomplished together."